Few players seem to mind trend toward no-beer policy

Wednesday

May 16, 2007 at 12:01 AMMay 16, 2007 at 10:35 AM

There are two glass-door refrigerators in the narrow visitors' clubhouse in Yankee Stadium. One is filled with bottled water and juices, while the other has a more varied selection: sports drinks, protein shakes, soda, diet soda, lemonade and chocolate milk.

There are two glass-door refrigerators in the narrow visitors' clubhouse in Yankee Stadium. One is filled with bottled water and juices, while the other has a more varied selection: sports drinks, protein shakes, soda, diet soda, lemonade and chocolate milk.

When visiting players are thirsty, they can choose from more than a dozen beverages. The one product players cannot secure in the clubhouse is a cold beer. The Yankees, who banned alcoholic beverages from the home clubhouse several years ago, recently removed them from the visitors' side.

"After what happened in St. Louis," said Lou Cucuzza Jr., the visiting clubhouse manager, "the organization decided to eliminate it and make that the policy."

What happened in St. Louis was that Josh Hancock, a relief pitcher for the Cardinals, was killed while driving drunk April 29. Hancock crashed his vehicle into the back of a tow truck and was found to have a blood-alcohol level of 0.157, which is nearly twice Missouri's legal limit.

Now baseball teams are reviewing their policies regarding alcohol in the home and visiting clubhouses. The Yankees and the Washington Nationals recently joined the Oakland Athletics and the Minnesota Twins as the only four teams that do not serve alcohol in the visiting clubhouse, although players and executives said they expect more teams to adopt this position.

Since Hancock's death, five teams, including the Cardinals, have banned alcoholic beverages from the home clubhouse. One of those teams, the Nationals, extended that ban to the visitors' side. As of Friday, Pat Courtney, a baseball spokesman, said 11 of the 30 teams do not allow alcohol in the home clubhouse. Twenty-six teams still allow it in the visiting clubhouses.

A few minutes after the Texas Rangers throttled the Yankees 14-2 Thursday, 12 Rangers players sat in folding chairs eating. There were 12 beverages on two tables: nine waters, two sports drinks and a soda.

"It's kind of a fine line," Rangers shortstop Michael Young said. "I feel like I'm capable of making responsible decisions. I can have one beer and get myself back to the hotel safely. At the same time, there's a lot to lose."

Frank Catalanotto, an outfielder, said that he did not notice the absence of beer.

"For me, I don't drink that much, especially after a game," Catalanotto said. "It doesn't really affect me. Personally, since it's not affecting me, I think it's a good idea."

The Rangers are one of several teams that supply beer in both clubhouses, and also offer beer to reporters in the press box after games. Gregg Elkin, a spokesman, said the Rangers were reviewing their policies.

Not long ago, it was common for some players to do postgame interviews while drinking beers. Reporters who covered the rowdy Mets in the late 1980s recalled how some players often had buckets of beers near their lockers after games. Some Mets stuffed beers in sanitary socks as they left Shea Stadium and called them "go beers."

But that attitude is changing. The Yankees' Cucuzza said bottled water was, by far, the most popular drink among players, and that was why he devoted almost a full refrigerator to it. Even when Cucuzza provided beer to visiting players, he said it was rare that more than a dozen were consumed each game by a traveling party of about 40. Cucuzza said he never witnessed a player leaving the clubhouse inebriated.

"They've got 45 minutes to eat, shower and get out the door and on a bus," Cucuzza said. "There's not enough time. There really isn't."

As Catalanotto sat at his locker in Yankee Stadium last Thursday, he was 10 steps from the glowing refrigerators. Catalanotto and his teammates could have quenched their thirst with an endless supply of beverages, but not with beer.

"It might take five to 10 years or a couple of months for it to happen," Catalanotto said. "But I'm sure that all across the board, all alcohol will be eliminated from clubhouses."

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